Kinematic viscosity studies for medium-speed CI engine fuel blends

Abstract

Engine - driven power plants, run by diesel fuel or gas, will be needed for peaking power to keep the electricity grids stable when the production of renewable electricity, e.g. utilizing wind or solar power, is increased. The choice of the alternative, renewable fuels for engine - driven power plants and marine applications is at the moment quite narrow. The amount of renewables of all liquid fuels is at present less than 2%. Biodiesels, FAMEs, have been studied for long time and apparently, despite of the problems they may have, they are still in the great interest. One import ant increment to the category of alternatives is fuels that are produced from e.g. oil wastes, i.e., recycled fuels. They are not renewable, but recycling of potential energy raw materials is still one step forward in increasing the suitable and more susta inable options. To utilize the blends in medium - speed engines for power production, accurate knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of fuel blends is very important for the optimization of engine performance. The determination of the fuel kinema tic viscosity is needed to create proper fuel atomization. The injection viscosity affects directly the combustion efficiency and the engine power. Consequently, this study focused on measuring kinematic viscosity curves for seven fuel blends, as well as t he neat fuels used for blending. The temperature range was 10 – 90 °C. The fuels used for blending were rapeseed methyl ester, animal - fat based methyl ester, hydro - treated vegetable oil, light fuel oil and marine gas oil produced from recycled lubricating oi ls.